


Here We Go Again!

by Bronte



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Identity Reveal, Inspired by Mamma Mia! (Movies), Inspired by Music, Mamma Mia! References, Mamma Mia! is the greatest movie musical of all time, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Romance, Weddings, go ahead and fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22305478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bronte/pseuds/Bronte
Summary: Just picture it. Alya and Nino are getting married. Adrien (and coincidentally Chat Noir) are back in town. As a friend in the music biz, Luka comes back from LA to support his DJ friend and host the stag do to end all stag dos. And then there's Marinette, perpetually single and overworked, faced with the three men from her past who love her desperately.A Mamma Mia AU.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 120
Kudos: 316





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm such a slut for making AUs all of the sudden, who the fuck am I and what has been done to my brain? 
> 
> Enjoy this absolutely self indulgent ode to ABBA. You won't be disappointed.

_ Honey, Honey _

So, let’s set the scene. Manon, Ella and Etta, who are now teenagers, are helping themselves to Marinette’s hand me downs while the latter is KonMari-ing her belongings. Sifting through handmade designer clothes and accessories, the three teens find one of Marinette’s old diaries. As they devour the pages, Manon, Ella and Etta discover the juicy details of their former babysitter’s love life through song. We see flashbacks and fumbles and a life of love that was never meant to be.

At the end of the diary, Manon, Ella and Etta hatch themselves a plan to get the heroine of Paris the love she deserves. And with Alya and Nino’s nuptials looming on the horizon, what could possibly go wrong?

~

_ Money, Money, Money _

Marinette Dupain-Cheng envisioned a different life for herself. At 23, she thought she’d be designing for Hollywood’s biggest stars on the red carpet with fiancé Adrien Agreste cheering her on from the sidelines. She thought she’d have a storefront on Les Champs-Elysées and enough money to live in her own penthouse apartment in Trocadero.

She certainly didn’t expect to be living paycheque to paycheque working an entry level fashion job while still living in her childhood bedroom.

Not to mention Le Papillon still hasn’t been caught.

Marinette sighs into her coffee cup as Alya and her friends chatter around her. Marinette may be her maid of honour but she certainly doesn’t feel like it at the moment. There’s too many things piling onto her already crowded plate and Marinette feels like she’s drowning, not that anyone can know. She has to be strong for her friends and family…

…if only she had a little money.

(It’s a rich man’s world.)

~

_ Mamma Mia _

Alya’s hen do is tomorrow, which means that Marinette spends her entire lunch hour confirming all of the little, tiny details that will make this the greatest party Paris has ever seen. Champagne will be flowing, music will be pumping and every important woman in Alya’s life will be partying by her side.

Chomping down on the rest of her salad in the ladies washroom, Marinette checks her reflection one last time and is about to head back to the grind when Alya’s cheerful smile pops up over FaceTime.

“Hey girl! You won’t believe who just showed up at our apartment!”

Alya doesn’t wait for Marinette’s answer.

“Hey Marinette!” Adrien waves, “Long time no see!”

_ thump thump _

“Marinette!” Luka’s smile fills the screen, “How are you?”

_ thump thump _

“No way.”

Alya’s concerned face suddenly appears in the center, “You alright, girl?”

Stammering and fumbling with her composure like an idiot, Marinette scrambles to find some semblance of control, “What are you guys doing back in Paris? I thought you weren’t arriving until next week?”

“Well, we got the head’s up that Nino wasn’t having a stag do and I came back to fix that,” Luka chuckles, fingering the guitar pick around his neck, “And Adrien here had some unfinished business to attend to.”

“It was one of those serendipitous moments where the two of us shared a common thought,” Adrien shrugs, his perfect smile making her heart jump, “I can’t wait to catch up with everyone again.”

“Uh huh,” Marinette garbles for lack of anything better to say, “I um…I gotta go. Talk to you later!”

“It’s good to see you!”

_ Crap. _

~

Things go to hell in a handbasket, as things do whenever Marinette has a deadline. In order to get time off to attend Alya’s wedding, Marinette has to haul ass double time at work to make up for her vacation days and keep her job. Unfortunately, it just so happens that Le Papillon chooses this particular evening to akumatize someone and screw her chances of not getting fired completely by her boss who’s had enough of her flaky behaviour.

_ Oh well, _ she thinks as she flings herself across Paris,  _ At least I’ll have more time to dedicate to Alya’s wedding. _

Le Papillon rarely attacks these days but it still happens on occasion without rhyme or reason. The steep decline in battles coincided with Chat Noir’s retirement, oddly enough, but Marinette always has too much on her mind to question the connection, no matter how coincidental it had seemed at the time.

It isn’t as fun fighting akumas when you don’t have someone to bounce ideas off of but Rena Rouge and Carapace, along with a plethora of other heroes, do the trick in a pinch. She doesn’t have an extra Miraculous on her tonight though and she hopes she won’t need one, especially after the day she’s had.

“Good evening M'Lady.”

Whipping around on the eaves of the Basilica, Ladybug nearly drops to her knees, “Chat Noir?”

“The one and only,” he bows deeply, his grin just as wide and as familiar as it always was, “I told you I’d come back now and then. How has Paris fared without me?”

He had promised to come back, but that was nearly four years ago, “Just fine, thank you.”

She doesn’t miss his full body twitch at the acid in her voice. Chat had left her high and dry during the summer after she’d graduated from secondary school and it still hurt; Ladybug would never be able to escape Paris so long as Le Papillon was around.

“Would you like some assistance with the akuma?” Chat’s voice takes on a tentative edge and it takes all of Ladybug’s failing patience not to rebuff him then and there.

“Just try and keep up,” she says over her shoulder and jumps head first into the fray.

First Luka and Adrien, and now Chat Noir? How was this happening, and on the same day no less? She’d been broken hearted and blue since the day they’d parted and now she feels like it’s happening all over again. She can’t count the times she’s cried over them…

Sucker punching the akuma in the teeth and cracking the akumatised dental retainer between her fingers, Ladybug wonders if she’ll ever learn.

_ Here I go again… _

~

_ Chiquitita _

Maid of honour Marinette does her very best to make things as perfect as they can be, as she often does. But even Alya knows something is up when Marinette doesn’t answer her calls the next morning and she rushes over to the bakery as fast as she can possibly manage. 

She hadn’t expected to find Marinette crying into her kitten pillow. 

“Girl, tell me what’s wrong,” Alya combs her hair through Marinette’s tangled tresses, “I haven’t seen you like this in so long…is this because of my hen do?”

Sobbing harder, Marinette shakes her head, “It’s all my fault!”

“Tell me the truth,” Alya continues, rubbing circles against her shoulders, “I’m your best friend and a shoulder you can cry on.”

“I lost my job,” Marinette mumbles into her sheets, “And the universe is taunting me.”

Alya blanches, “Colette Paris fired you? Oh god, Marinette. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Marinette replies automatically, sniffling loudly, “I deserved it. I deserve every bit of karma I’m getting.”

“We’ll patch this up together,” Alya assures her, “Now you have time to work on your own creations! You’ll be designing once again and the pain will end… you’ll be famous before you know it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do know that,” Alya tuts, grabbing a handful of tissues, “And with two drop dead gorgeous boys in town who would love to model your designs, you’ll be trending on Instagram and your clothes will be selling like hot cakes.”

Marinette jerks upwards, positively scandalized, “I-Alya, no, absolutely not!”

“The two boys you’ve always had eyes for are back in Paris!” Alya begins wiping the tears from Marinette’s cheeks, “Are you just going to let the opportunity to be with one of them pass through your fingers?”

“I don’t…they don’t like me like that.”

“You won’t know until you try.”

“I’ll just get hurt!”

“Just try once more, like you did before,” Alya smiles and presses a kiss against her forehead, “You’ll find love again, chiquitita.”

~

_ Dancing Queen _

Twenty minutes later and Alya’s other two bridesmaids from her school days have rushed over to Marinette's in an attempt to cheer up the one person who's always carried the weight of everyone else's hardships on her shoulders. It wasn't much to ask the couple to drop their morning plans and bolster the sagging confidence of their everyday Ladybug; if anything, they all owed Marinette more than they could ever repay.

"I thought you would be excited to see Adrien!" Rose exclaims, gently folding all of the laundry Marinette hadn't been able to put away in over a month, "You've been in love with him since we were kids!"

"And you used to like Luka too," Juleka murmurs, handing Rose the rest of the socks, "So why are you so scared to see them?"

Marinette can't mention the third man in her life who had taken her heart and stomped on it without arousing suspicion, "I brought this all on myself because I was stupid and cowardly!"

"There's still a chance, I keep telling you!" Alya runs her comb through Marinette's hair, keeping a straight face as she works on the rat's nest at the base of her skull; her best friend hasn't been taking care of herself and Alya feels absolutely horrible for not noticing, "Adrien and Luka are both still single!"

"That's not true," Marinette dabs her eyes with the corner of her sweatshirt, "Luka and Adrien always have girls hanging off of them."

Rose and Juleka exchange a glance, "I can't speak for Adrien, but Luka hasn't been dating anyone."

"He's kind of got this..." Juleka shrugs her shoulders, "You know what, it's not my place to say."

Marinette slumps, "And it's not like they'd want me anyway. Look at me! I still live with my parents, I'm unemployed and I'm practically a nun!"

"Guys like that kind of thing," Alya assures her, finally pulling apart the giant knot of hair, "You're not any less exciting just because you're still a virgin."

"Yeah!” Rose nods resolutely, “Whatever happened to our Marinette? She was the life of the party!"

"I grew up," Marinette murmurs, curling in on herself.

"Well then, grow back down again!" Alya cries, grabbing Marinette's hands and hauling her to her feet, "Come on girl, it's time to get ready for the night of our lives!"

Rose giggles and plucks one of Marinette's miniskirts from her chest of drawers only to plop it on her head, "How do I look?"

It's all it takes for Marinette to crack a smile, "Just add a feather boa and it'll be perfect." 

Juleka dives into the armoire and grabs a frilly pink chiffon dress from Marinette's early days of designing, "I'm in the mood for some dancing."

Rose puts on her best manly voice, "Hey girl, what's a guy like me gotta do to get your attention?"

Alya laughs, "Hey Google, play something I can dance to."

_ "Sure. Playing Dancing Queen by Abba on Spotify." _

"This is perfect!" Alya swings Marinette around, plunking her entire collection of stackable necklaces over her head, "You are the dancing queen! Young and sweet, only twenty three!"

Grinning, Marinette joins in on the silliness overtaking her bedroom. Her life may still be a trainwreck, but at least she'd always have her friends to dance with by her side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with more of the AU you never asked for!

_ Our Last Summer _

Ella and Etta simply let themselves into their sister's flat, knowing full well the two boys they'd secretly DM'd over Instagram would still be hanging around after a night of catching up together. Thankfully, they'd stayed the night at Nino's request and the twins had been banking on their future brother-in law's endless generosity; without it, their plan would be up shit creek without a paddle.

"The coast is clear," Ella whispers to Manon, who had been watching the hallway in case Alya returned, "Come on!"

It doesn't take long for the three of them to find Adrien and Luka, but what they hadn't anticipated was that the two men they'd covertly convinced over social media to come and whisk Marinette off her feet would be waiting for them.

"So you're the little tattletales," Luka croons, plucking his six string in the kitchen, "If it hadn't been for the three of you, Nino would have never gotten the stag do he so deserves."

"I can't believe I dropped the ball on that," Adrien rubs the back of his neck with a little wave at the three girls standing gobsmacked before them, "I'm the world's worst best man."

"Who's friend happens to be the world's best party planner," Luka grins, running his fingers along the frets of his guitar, "I know exactly what we're going to do tonight and I can't wait to see Nino’s face when it all comes together."

"That wasn't the only reason we told you about the bachelor party, you know," Etta recovers first, crossing her arms across her chest, "I mean, Nino needs to have a party, yeah, but we had ulterior motives."

"Yeah!" Ella mirrors her sister, "Ulterior motives."

Luka raises a brow, "And those would be?"

Manon tips her chin up, "Romantic ones."

"I see," Luka glances sidelong at his companion and tries not to laugh, "If this is about Marinette — and by the looks on your faces, it probably is — she wasn't exactly happy when she heard that we were back in town."

Adrien shrugs, "She kind of freaked out when she saw us."

"Marinette's not thinking straight," Etta waves her hand dismissively, "She's too stressed out about the wedding to realize the gift we’ve put in front of her!"

"Yeah! She has no idea that you're her big surprise!" Ella insists, stepping forward, "If anyone deserves a Hollywood romance, it's Marinette!"

"I still remember our last summer like it was yesterday," Luka smiles, picking up a new tune on his guitar, "Walks along the Seine...laughing in the rain."

Adrien sighs at the memory, "Alya, Nino, Marinette and I made our way along the river and we sat down on the grass for a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. That's when I told them I was leaving for a worldwide modelling campaign."

"We were living for the day," Luka's lips quirk, his voice stained with regret, "But I was afraid of going farther when I knew I was leaving for Los Angeles. It was like we were dancing our last dance."

"I always felt that she was more than just a friend," Adrien leans back, "But I didn't realise that until much later."

"Well, don't let her down this time," Manon wags her finger, "Their hen do is at  _ la Cour cachée _ by the way, in case you wanted to crash it."

"Tempting," Luka's grin is entirely too contagious, "I'll see what I can do."

~

_ Lay All Your Love On Me _

As Alya’s Uber pulls up to the curb outside of her apartment, she can already tell that the party has begun. There are at least seven boys hanging out on the sidewalk out front in various states of disarray; some are wearing animal costumes and some are wearing...are those swim trunks?

“Hey babe, where've you been?” Nino catches her just as she’s stepping out of the Peugeot and helps her onto the pavement, “The girls have been arriving all afternoon, they’re upstairs.”

“Crap,” Alya grimaces, “Sorry about that. I was over at Marinette’s and I must have lost track of time.”

“No worries,” Nino beams, giving his gorgeous fiancé a once-over, “Are you excited for tonight?”

“I can hardly contain it,” Alya fixes the collar on his blindingly bizarre Hawaiian shirt and quirks an eyebrow, “I don’t remember seeing this in our closet last time I checked.”

“That’s because it’s new,” Nino preens, puffing his chest, “Turns out Luka is the master at planning ragers. I swear, if I didn’t grow up with his sister, I’d think he was related to Marinette or something. They’re practically the same person when it comes down to planning amazing things on a tight schedule.”

“I can imagine,” Alya smiles, brushing her thumb along the line of his jaw, “Make sure you go hard tonight. It’s not a good party unless it makes it in the tabloids.”

“Of course it will!” Nino laughs, pumping his fist as the rest of the boys flood the sidewalk, “It’s my stag do! My last night of freedom!”

Alya blinks, her indulgent gaze suddenly razor sharp.

“Which is how some people might see it,” Nino rectifies with a shit eating grin, “But for me, I see it as the last night of my life before the great adventure of marrying you.” 

“Smooth,” Alya stands back and plants her hands on her hips, “Well? What are you waiting for? You’re gonna be late if you don’t get going!”

“God, what did I do in a past life to deserve you?” Nino devours her with a kiss so lightning quick it makes her head spin, “You know, I always thought that house music was my only vice until I fell head over heels in love with you. Now you’re my everything.”

Two of Nino’s friends from the studio grab him by the arms and start to tug him away, “Don’t go spending your love on some stripper, babe! Lay all your love on me!”

“I only have eyes for you!” Alya calls out as the boys crowd around him, hauling him up onto their shoulders. Singing one of those raucous chants from their favourite football team at the top of their lungs, Nino and the rest of the boys disappear around the corner and into the night.

~

_ Super Trooper _

“WOOOOOOOO!!!!” 

Alya downs her second glass of champagne and tosses the plastic flute aside, singing along to her favourite pop anthems pumping out through the speakers.  _ La Cour cachée _ is the perfect spot for her and her girls to let loose and party until the sun comes up, being that the secret reception garden is one of the most exclusive hidden gems in the entire city. 

Bathed in fairy lights and flowering trees, Marinette takes a moment to enjoy the jovial atmosphere happening all around her. It had taken her influence as Ladybug to score Paris’ most chic private party space for Alya’s hen do and she doesn’t feel even a little bit guilty for using her alter ego to get what she’d needed; she would do just about anything for Alya and the sentiment was mutual, which is why she really has to put aside her chaotic personal life and just enjoy the moment with her best friend no matter how depressed she’s feeling. It isn’t fair to Alya or her guests for her to mope on the sidelines, especially since she’s the maid of honour; she has a huge responsibility to uphold and no amount of sulking is going to change that.

Suddenly the lights flicker and the music crackles. The power surges and the entire party is thrust into darkness.

“You have  _ got _ to be kidding me,” Marinette groans, burying her face in her hands, “Why does this always happen to—”

“Ladies and no gentlemen!” comes a terribly familiar voice from the live stage on the east wall of the  _ La Cour cachée _ and Marinette yanks her head around to find the source of the noise, “Presenting for one night and one night only—”

“—because that’s all we’ve prepared for!”

“Dude! Shh! It’s not your turn yet!” 

“Sorry!”

As the lights slowly flicker back to life, it becomes apparent that someone has snuck in behind the curtains on the stage, “Presenting the world’s sexiest boy band since One Direction—”

“BTS is better!” Alix hollers from the crowd, eliciting laughter and hoots of agreement from all of the girls as they gather around the stage.

“I know, right?!”

“Adrien, shut up!”

“Sorry!”

There’s a kerfuffle behind the microphone as the girls wait on baited breath for the show to begin, “Presenting...DJ Nino and the Dynamos!”

The curtains drop with a whoosh and Nino, Adrien and Luka are suddenly revealed in all their sparkly, bell bottomed splendor. Marinette nearly has a coronary at the sight as Mylène confirms what they’re all thinking.

“Are those costumes from—”

“—our lycée’s production of Saturday Night Fever? Oh my god,” Mylène gasps in abject horror, “Where did they even find those?”

Marinette pales, “They were hanging in my closet for so long…” she trails off, “I donated all of my old clothes after Alya’s sisters and Manon took whatever they wanted....”

“Those little demons!” Alya cackles, busting a gut over her most recent flute of champagne. A half dozen spotlights shine down on the three boys as they pose for the audience and Marinette nearly expels her soul from her nostrils as Luka adjusts himself in the fire engine red spandex barely holding him in.

“Hit the music, Kim!”

From somewhere within the shadows, the music system hums back to life with a backing track Marinette’s heard enough times to recognize. She remembers it fondly from the dance parties they’d had on the Couffaine’s houseboat back when they’d still been teenagers in Paris.

“Super Trouper, lights are gonna find me, but I won't feel blue,” the boys sing in horrible unison and the gaggle of girls around them begin to snicker at their expense, “Like I always do, 'cause somewhere in the crowd, there's you!”

Mortified, Marinette holds her head in her palms and watches through the cracks of her fingers as Adrien throws his perfectly coiffed hair back and runs the hand not holding his microphone down his body, tracing the open V neck that ends just below his belly button. Choking on her champagne, Marinette can  _ just _ see the little tufts of blond hair that beckons her attention ever downwards towards the bulge in his skin tight green disco suit.

“I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Glasgow,” a clearly inebriated Nino brays, pointing at his future wife with all the gusto of a man dressed in close fitting neon spandex, “All I do is eat and sleep and DJ, wishing every show was the last show!”

Luka takes the reigns, replacing Nino at centre stage, “So imagine I was glad to hear you're coming, suddenly I feel all right,” the rock star makes eye contact with Marinette through the crowd and even in red sparkles and gold chains, Luka still makes her knees quake, “It’s gonna be so different when I'm on the stage tonight!”

The three boys chime in at the same time, singing the chorus at the top of their lungs and Marinette has to take a moment to stop oogling their gyrating hips so she can get a handle on herself. The girls all seem to be loving it, which is a relief since they’re crashing her party, but why are they here? And who told them that Alya’s hen do was going to be at  _ La Cour cachée _ ?

_ Oh. _

“I’m going to kill those three…” murmurs Marinette as she peels her hands away from her face only to promptly smack them back over her eyes when Adrien spreads his knees and grinds his body down Nino’s in a perfect stripper squat.

“So I'll be there when you arrive, the sight of you will prove to me I'm still alive,” Adrien sings, staring straight through Marinette’s embarrassment and into her soul, “And when you take me in your arms and hold me tight, I know it's gonna mean so much toniiiiiiiiiiiiiight!”

Stumbling back into one of Alya’s friends from the Buzzfeed office, Marinette yanks Rose’s glass of champagne out of her hand and downs it all in one go. They seem to know exactly what’s happening and Juleka doesn’t even hesitate, handing her lovestricken friend her own glass.

“Drink up Mari, you’re gonna need it,” Rose pats Marinette’s forearm as she sways, completely under the spell of the two strangely clad men who only have eyes for her, “You’ve got to tell them!”

“Tell them what?” Marinette groans morosely as the three boys ratchet into the final lines of the chorus, “That I want to bang their brains out?!”

Mylène nearly snorts her drink, “I was thinking more of a love confession, but I don’t think either of them would say no if you offered.”

_ “Oh god,” _ Marinette whines, the alcohol hitting her system thick and easy, “What am I going to do?”

~

_ Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! _

The maid of honour is supposed to be the level headed one, the group mom, the responsible leader of the party. Instead, Marinette has long given up any and all illusions that she’s got her life under control and dances up on the tables, swinging her head back and forth until her barrettes come flying out of her hair and into the gardens beyond. She’s always been the heavyweight when it comes to drinking — hence her reputation for being the life of the party — but tonight is the first night in over a year that she’s been able to let her hair down, both figuratively and literally.

Encouraging another round of shots, Marinette throws some more tequila back and wishes she was up here dancing with a boy right now. It could be anyone for all she cares at the moment, so long as he’s tall and warm and inexplicably kind. She wants a man that will be there for her when times are tough. She wants a man that will hold her tight and chase the shadows away. She wants a man who won’t just leave her to fend for herself when she needs him the most.

“Is there a man out there?” she cries above the blasting music, “Someone to hear my prayers?”

~

“Should I go and talk to her?” Adrien asks Alya as she joins him at the cocktail bar. He looks ridiculous, lounging against the stool’s cushion in his flashy 70s clubwear but to Alya, he’s still the naive ignoramus she considers one of her closest friends.

“Oh, no, really. You should wait until she has a few more drinks in her first,” Alya persuades him, watching the bartender refill her flute with a smile, “She’s had a really rough day.”

“Good idea,” Adrien takes a deep pull of his beer and signs, “Why is she having a rough day?”

The bride to be winces, “She got fired last night.”

“No,” Adrien gasps, “Colette Paris fired her?!”

“Yep,” Alya says against the rim of her glass, “It was...she was not in good spirits this morning. I tried to reassure her but...this is kind of really bad. Marinette hasn’t been able to hold down a job since she left design school and financially, she’s not doing so hot. I offered her a loan but she won’t take it, being who she is. Marinette is...well, she’s Marinette. There’s no one quite like her.”

“God, I wish there was something I could do to help her,” Adrien looks absolutely stricken, his eyes following her closely as she stumbles across the tabletops, “I always felt terrible when I would come back to Paris and she’d always be busy or something. I thought she had a good job!”

“That’s what she wanted us to believe,” Alya sighs, “Turns out she was just a glorified errand girl for Colette. Marinette hasn’t been able to design anything in well over a year.”

“That must be killing her!” he exclaims, nervously rubbing the platinum band around his ring finger, “I have been the worst friend. I should have helped her out!”

“None of us knew she was that hard done by,” she responds with a shrug, “I didn’t even know she was in debt up to her eyebrows until she confessed this morning. If it wasn’t for the hen do and the wedding to look forward to, I don’t know how she’d be managing. I feel terrible for asking her to be my maid of honour now. I wouldn’t have asked if I knew how bad things were.”

“She would have been pretty upset if you hadn’t asked though,” Adrien takes another healthy gulp from his pint, “God, this sucks, Alya. Do you think she’d take money from me if I offered? She doesn’t even have to pay me back, I have enough of it to go around.”

“I don’t think that’s what she’s looking for from you,” Alya sends him a sidelong glance, “If you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Adrien chuckles, “But I think she has eyes for Luka too.”

“Luka, Shluka,” Alya flicks her wrist at him, “You’re the one she talks about the most. You’re the one she misses every time we get hammered and she goes off on one of her drunk rants.”

“I miss those,” he says, remembering their final year at lycée and all of the houseboat parties he’d managed to sneak out of the house to attend. Marinette was always the life of the party in those days… “I want to tell her—”

“—tell her what?” Luka slides in beside Adrien, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, “That Marinette looks like a snack in that pretty pink romper she’s wearing?”

The three of them glance over at Marinette as Nino hops up onto the table to join her, equally as wasted at this point. Alya dreads the hungover fiancé she’ll have to contend with until she remembers that he and the boys rented an airbnb in Le Marais for the night, “She made it herself. I keep telling her to start trying to sell her clothes over Instagram but she always says that she’s too busy. Now I know why.”

And she does look cute, her off the shoulder bell sleeves and thick ruched waistline a testament to her innocence that ends in a ruffled skirt over her shorts. Her legs go on for miles and Alya doesn’t miss the hungry look in their eyes as Marinette lifts Nino up into the air like a baby on her hip and pumps her fist into the air, screaming for someone to crank the jams even louder.

“She’s…” Adrien’s mouth begins to water, “...really strong.”

“Just when I didn’t think she could get any sexier,” Luka licks his lips.

“Down boys,” Alya smirks, “No taking advantage of my best friend when she’s this wasted.”

“Noted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if Super Trooper is stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
> 
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed! And you can follow along on Tumblr as well!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another little glimpse into my beloved AU that nobody asked for.

_ Voulez Vous _

It’s at that exact moment that the rest of the boys from Nino’s lavish stag do begin to rappel down from the surrounding buildings, their faces completely hidden behind their masks. Marinette screams in excitement as they prowl onto the scene and wrap their arms around the waists of the other girls, beckoning them to dance to the music that throbs all around her. Everyone is having an amazing time at the party she’d organized and now everyone is together! Marinette is so happy because everyone else is happy! She’s a good maid of honour! She didn’t fail anyone! She didn’t ruin anything!

Someone helps her down from the tables and she thanks them, teetering on her platform sandals as she makes her way onto the dance floor. There’s a sea of bodies and people are shaking and grinding to the beat and Marinette feels all of the stress run off her shoulders as she throws her hands upwards and sings along. There’s a sense of expectation hanging in the air as people kiss and touch and laugh together, giving out a spark that lights Marinette’s skin on fire. She loves this part of the night, even if she’s got no one to dance with.

But all that changes in an instant.

“Hey Ma-Ma-Marinette,” Luka’s arm unexpectedly curls around her hips, drawing her up to his body, “Dancing alone doesn’t suit you.”

Losing her step, Marinette stumbles and lands face first against his bare chest. She blinks up in surprise to find him grinning, wearing nothing but a pair of jean hot pants and checkered Vans, “Luka?”

“The one and only,” he laughs because drunk Marinette has always been adorably slow on the uptake, “How are you feeling tonight?”

“Good!” she squeaks, finally finding her stride as Luka helps her keep time with the beat, “Great! Awesome!”

“That’s good to hear,” he says, his voice rumbling deep within his sternum. Dizzy with the sensation of it all, Marinette just clings to him and hopes she doesn’t get swept off her feet, “Your heart song sounded a little troubled earlier.”

“I’m fine,” she brushes him off, sealing the lie with a trademark Marinette grin, “Everything’s going perfectly!”

“Are you sure?” A familiar voice asks, sending shivers up and down her neck as another pair of hands settle low on her waist from behind. Marinette freezes as Adrien’s chin appears over her shoulder, his bright green eyes wide with concern, “Alya told me you were having a bad day.”

Marinette has never felt more like an idiot sandwich, “A-Adrien?”

“Yup,” his hands slowly make their way along her ribcage as Luka’s hands linger farther down her spine, “It’s been so long since I last saw you.”

“I could say the same,” Luka’s fingers press into the swell of her curves and Marinette shudders, her spine arching, “It seems like everytime we come back to Paris, you’re always busy.”

“T-that’s not true,” Marinette stutters, knowing full well that it is; she’s never been able to find the courage to face her problems dead on without her mask, “You’re always busy too!”

“And you always leave me on read,” Luka’s grip tightens ever so slightly.

“And I always invite you out when I’m back in town,” Adrien’s breath is too hot against the shell of her ear.

Sighing, Marinette can’t exactly tell them that the reason she can’t ever go out or socialize anymore is because she’s spending every minute of her daylight hours working as an underpaid temp to make up for her evenings prowling rooftops, holding down the fort against Le Papillon all by herself, “I have to work a lot, you know.”

“Not anymore,” Adrien says, his pelvis now flush against her spine, “Alya told us what happened.”

Marinette’s happy mood darkens in an instant, the thud of the bass setting her teeth on edge. She’d been trying so hard to forget about that, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We’re sorry,” Luka makes amends, brushing her bangs from her eyes. Marinette can’t look anywhere but his chest for fear of setting her real feelings loose, “Why don’t we make it up to you?”

“Just you and us together on the dancefloor,” Adrien murmurs, his lips scant millimetres away from her cheek, “We can dance the night away.”

“Nothing promised, no regrets…” Luka tips her chin up with one outstretched finger, eager to meet her expression, “Now is all the time we’ll get.”

“All we need is your answer,” Adrien’s desire is obvious, as is Luka’s,  _ “La question c'est voulez-vous?” _

Marinette takes a shaky breath, her thoughts swirling. It’s so warm, dancing between them and yet it’s somehow too hot, too incredibly close. She can feel her lips and cheeks begin to tingle, the desire to agree on the tip of her tongue. She wants it so bad, the rush of sensation, the affection of being the centre of their attention, even if it’s just for one night...

...except she doesn’t want this for just one night. She doesn’t want to close her eyes for the rest of her life and remember how good it felt to be loved only to find the other side of her bed entirely empty and forever abandoned. She doesn’t want to know the feeling of their fingertips on her skin only to never be touched again. She doesn’t want to hear their praise for her only to never be complimented again.

_ No. _

“I can’t,” Marinette squeezes her eyes shut, tears leaking from the corners, “I’m—”

The spell is broken as she bails to the side, leaving both boys gawking at the Marinette shaped hole between them, “Wait, Marinette—”

“No!” she cries as the dancers continue to circle around them, spinning and laughing the night away, “If I fall for you, you’ll just leave me again!”

The courtyard suddenly begins to spiral.

“Marinette, come back!”

“Oh honey, you don’t look so good.”

“Girl, are you okay?”

She never should have...oh god, what has she done?

“We should get her to the bathroom.”

“She was fine just a minute ago.”

“She’s been having a rough go at it lately, let’s get her on a couch.”

Marinette’s knees begin to buckle. 

“Stand back, everybody.”

“Give her some space!”

“I’m so sorry.”

All she’s ever wanted is...no, all she’s ever needed was love.

“Marinette!”

~

_ SOS _

“Come on Marinette, rise and shine!”

Cracking open her eyelids, Marinette immediately regrets being alive and groans.

“How are you feeling?” Rose is at her side in an instant, “We were so worried about you last night!”

“I’m fine,” Marinette grumbles, rolling over and shoving her face into the pillow. It’s not her pillow, which means she definitely didn’t make it home last night, “Where am I?”

“At my place,” Alya explains, placing a glass of water onto the bedside table with a deafening thunk, “You passed out near the end of the party and then Nora helped me carry you here.”

Marinette feels her cheeks burn in shame “I’m sorry I’m so embarrassing.”

“You’re not embarassing,” Rose assures her, running a comb through Marinette’s hair like they used to when they were kids, “You were sad and those boys…”

“Luka got an earful this morning,” Juleka growls from the foot of the bed, “He shouldn’t have come onto you like that.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette murmurs, finally freeing her face from its pillow punishment, “I probably deserved it.”

“What?” Alya’s eyebrows shoot skyward, “Wait, no. You need to stop being so down on yourself!”

“That’s easier said than done,” she murmurs, rolling away from them, “You didn’t just lose your career and your one last chance for love in one day.”

Alya pinches the bridge of her nose, “What did they say to you?”

Marinette shrugs, “They’re disappointed in me.”

“For what?!”

“For not answering their texts or going out with them whenever they come back to Paris,” Marinette slouches, awash in guilt, “But it’s...it’s not my fault. I can’t just, I don’t know, give up my responsibilities for them.”

Alya cringes, “Girl, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette says and it’s absolutely not, “I’ll get over it. Once the wedding is over, they’ll be gone forever and I can go back to being alone.”

Rose, Juleka and Alya all share a glance.

“Marinette, tell us. Tell us what’s wrong.”

Seeing her entire life and career crumbling apart — as if they weren’t already in shambles — spurs her to speak, “I don't know what to do.”

“You always know exactly what to do,” Rose assures her, wrapping her up in an embrace, “You’re Marinette, everyone’s ‘Everyday Ladybug’! You always land on your feet no matter what happens!”

“Wait,” Alya says, plopping down beside her despondent friend, “Actually, you know what? You don’t have to do anything right now. Everything is ready for the wedding on the weekend. The party favours are finished, my mom’s got the catering under control and everything is ordered and will be set up by the staff on Saturday. You’ve done everything you’ve needed to do as my Maid of Honour! You can sit back and relax!”

Marinette sniffs, “What do you mean, I don’t have to do anything? I still have a ton of things to do!”

“No you don’t!” Alya assures her, before seeing the desperate look in her best friend’s eyes, “Look, you know what? Let’s compromise. Why don’t you take today off to take care of yourself and tomorrow, you can go full steam ahead for the rehearsal dinner. Does that sound okay?”

Marinete considers it as her hangover beats a tattoo on the inside of her skull. She could certainly use some time to relax and maybe take a bubble bath, especially now that she’s fired and jobless…

“Okay,” she says, and she means it.

~

Well, her intentions had certainly been good.

Tossing herself across the rooftops of Paris, Ladybug grits her teeth and tries to ignore her throbbing hangover as she lassoos another one of the akuma’s goons and lobs it into the Seine. She was just about to draw herself a bubble bath and crack open the spine on the romance book she’d been hoping to read for months when the akuma alert went out over her mobile. Resigned, she had donned her suit and decided to leave her extra Miraculouses behind, knowing full well that Alya and Nino wouldn’t be available to help her out today.

Because tonight, they were on a date. It was their last outing as fiancé and fiancé before getting married in two days' time.

So, alone and grouchy beyond comparison, Ladybug socks the akuma in the face with her fist and reaches for its lapel pin only to find herself just out of reach. This had always been easier when she’d had a partner but since Chat Noir left her behind to fend for herself on the streets of Paris, she’d had to make due with less seasoned helpers. 

Parrying, Ladybug backflips onto the nearest streetlamp and dodges another blow, sinking deep into her hand to hand combat training. She could survive another night taking care of herself, fighting on her own. She could still kick and swipe with her invisible partner at her side, her constant companion born from an imagination that simply longs for the comfort of human connection. Chat Noir may have disappeared in real life but she’s always kept the memory of him close to her heart, especially on dark nights alone.

He’d left out of necessity, she knows this, but the truth still stings regardless. He’d been given a once of a lifetime opportunity and with Le Papillon attacking barely once or twice a month those days, Ladybug had given him her blessing. She could handle twenty or so akuma a year, even if they were complex and difficult to capture. If anything, donning her super suit gave her an escape from the humdrum life she’d been curating for herself back then. 

That is, until it all came shattering down around her ears.

First, Chat Noir appeared out of nowhere for the first time in four years. Then, she’d lost her job and even worse, the two people she’d always had feelings for in her civilian life sprung up out of nowhere begging her to dance the night away with them.

Three men. 

Three ghosts from her past.

Three opportunities for love.

Ladybug elbows the akuma in the eye and drop kicks it in the sternum; love isn’t for people like her.

“I see you’ve picked up a few techniques since the old days.” 

Ladybug freezes. She knows that voice;  it haunts her dreams.

Spinning around, Ladybug watches with widened eyes as Chat Noir extends his baton to smack the akuma right between the forehead.

“I’ve had a lot of time to practice,” Ladybug recovers quickly, shaking herself and punting the akuma in the kidneys much harder than strictly necessary.

“I can see that,” Chat Noir helps hold it down while she rips the lapel pin from the akuma’s magenta and crimson coloured suit.

Ladybug huffs, “Why are you really here, Chat Noir?”

“You and I were a team once, remember? You and me against the world?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s just me now. Fighting akumas and trying to stay afloat,” she snaps the akumatized pin in half and captures the butterfly that’s hiding within, “Just another day for Paris’ only saviour, Ladybug.”

“Look,” Chat Noir follows her back onto the rooftops, “You said you were fine with it when I left. I would have stayed if you had said no.”

“And hold you back from living your life?” Ladybug throws her Lucky Charm into the air and watches as the city returns to normal in a flash of sparkling red, “That’s not who I am.” 

Chat Noir sighs, “At least let me help you now.”

“No, that's alright, I can deal with my own disasters.”

“If this was getting too hard for you, why didn’t you just say something?”

Ladybug gives him a scathing look, “How? How was I supposed to contact you? The city of Paris already pities me, not to mention my friends and family in my real life. I think posting a video on the Ladyblog begging you to return to me would have only made me look worse.”

“Ladybug—”

“And it’s really none of your business.”

“Why didn’t you give someone a permanent Miraculous to help you? I mean, if it were up to me, I would have given Rena Rouge and Carapace the opportunity to stay by my side.”

“I would never willingly put someone in danger like that, especially now that they’re getting married to each other.”

Ladybug honestly expects Chat Noir to react more to that little tidbit reveal and finds herself at odds when he doesn’t even blink, “Look, I get it, Ladybug, I do, but you’ve needed someone to take care of you. You agreed to find someone else when I left.”

“Except, here's the thing,” Ladybug throws her hands into the air, “I like doing this all on my own. I really do. I get to wake up every morning and know that I’m not putting anyone else in harm’s way, you know? I'm free and I'm single and it's great.”

And with that, Ladybug leaps off the railings and disappears into the night.

~

Chat Noir groans into his hands and feels the same regret he’s felt crushing his lungs with every breath since the moment he’d boarded that plane to China. Why did he think this was a good idea? He’s Chat Noir, for god’s sake, he should have just stayed in Paris under the thick, unyielding thumb of his father and dealt with it. But at the time, the sheer sense of freedom living abroad would offer him was too much to turn down and he’d left at eighteen and hardly looked back.

He’d always flown home for Christmas and he’d always taken time out to visit with his friends but he’d never managed to run into his Lady no matter how many times he transformed and took to the streets looking for her. It was a fluke that he’d found her a couple days ago, but that’s because it was the middle of summer and there had been an akuma attack; he couldn’t sit back and watch it happen from afar, no matter how much Plagg had advised him not to go.

What happened to those happy days they’d had together? He’d tried to reach out; he’d left letters and messages around Paris in the hopes that she’d come across them. Instead, she seemed to have closed her mind to the possibility of ever reconnecting again. What ever happened to their friendship? He wishes he understood, the flame in his heart still burning strong. But this Ladybug was different, hardened and defeated, and all he wants to do now is send out an S.O.S. to try and save her from herself.

“Why can’t she see that I still love her?” Chat murmurs, gazing softly in the direction she’d disappear to. When he was finally free from Paris, it had been hard to sit well with the decision but he hadn’t come back. China meant freedom from the gilded cage of his life, even if it meant giving up Chat Noir. And the Miraculous wielders there welcomed him with open arms; Hēi Māo was an appreciated addition to their team of crime fighting superheroes, especially once Plagg adjusted his costume so no one would mistake him for his missing masked counterpart halfway across the globe.

He knew the decision would hurt Ladybug.

He just didn’t realise that his selfishness would stem into the worst decision of his life.

~

He seems so far away from where she’s hidden herself, even if he’s only just standing where she left him. Being around him leaves her skin sizzling and her heart burning, although she can’t tell if it’s with the joy of seeing him again or the hate she feels at being left behind. He brought up a good point tonight; she had given him her blessing to leave and explore his life abroad, although she didn’t realise he’d be gone for four years. She’d falsely assumed he’d meant a semester abroad with his university, not that she knew if he was even enrolled in courses. She’d expected to see him that Christmas at least...

But she hadn’t.

He made her feel alive and loved, but that love was long dead. She’d tried to understand. She’d tried to rationalise his loss and how it made her feel. But it was gone. She was destined to be alone. 

Just her, against the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed and want more!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *listening to ABBA's Greatest Hits at 100% intensity to drown out my Covid-19 anxieties*

_ Does Your Mother Know _

Luka sits back and enjoys the view of the rehearsal dinner from the polished oak counter at the open bar, sipping his second Hennessy of the evening. Things had gone off without a hitch and now the wedding party is socialising amongst themselves, enjoying the ambiance and the splendour of the space since they have it rented out for another few hours. Alya’s Buzzfeed friends come and go from the bar but Luka only has eyes for one particular woman…

...until an old ghost from his past catches his eye.

“Couffaine,” Kagami Tsurugi divides the crowd as she stalks her way up to the bar, her empty crystal tumbler grasped between her fingers. She sets it down onto the gleaming wood and wordlessly beckons the bartender to fill her glass with the bottle of Japanese whisky hiding behind the Grey Goose, “It seems Los Angeles is treating you well.”

Luka sizes her up, his heart rate increasing as he soaks in the silhouette of her navy pencil dress, accented by a peekaboo cut out at the hollow of her spine, “It’s nice, I’ll admit, but not as nice as Paris.”

Kagami hums, bringing her tumbler up to her lacquered lips, “I’ve only been a few times. I find the whole country pretentious, really. I prefer the unconceited simplicity of home.”

“And is home here? Or back in Japan?”

“I split my time evenly between the two,” she replies, savouring the eighteen year old Hakushu whisky on her tongue, “Between business and competition, I find the dichotomy of the two quite...pleasant.”

“But you prefer Paris.”

Kagami nods, “Naturally.”

“Let me guess,” Luka’s lips quirk, seeing right through her prose for the melody lying within, “Your mother is back in Japan.”

“She certainly isn’t here,” Kagami raises a brow, “And she certainly doesn’t know I’m taking part in a wedding instead of the European Fencing Tournament in London this weekend.”

“I’m sorry,” Luka can’t help but laugh a little, “I only met your mother once. She was scary.”

“I’ll probably never hear the end of it for ‘betraying the family name for nuptial frivolities’,” Kagami shrugs, “But some things are worth toeing the line for.”

“Don’t I know it,” Luka nods, “Are you here for long?”

“I’m flying back to Tokyo Monday morning,” she takes a long swig of the amber liquid and hisses, “I don’t expect to see the light of day for a while once the press catches wind of my presence here.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Luka soaks her in and frowns as the delicate harmonies of her heart song begin to clash discordant.

“My mother has no qualms in reminding me of the mandatory respect I owe to the family name. To rebel, as I’m doing now, is practically unforgivable.”

It’s Luka’s turn to hum, leaning forwards, “So run away.”

“Pardon me?”

“You heard me,” Luka’s wolfish grin takes her aback, “I’ve read about you on the internet, I know you’re wealthy. What’s stopping you from stretching your wings?”

“My mother,” Kagami’s mask of calm finally cracks, revealing the cacophonous melody of her mind, “She would kill me.”

“A little distance makes the heart grow fonder,” Luka turns away for a moment, watching Marinette blush furiously in front of the blond man she’d been successfully avoiding all dinner, “And I doubt Tomoe would slice your head off if you took a little extended vacation, considering you’re the only heir to the family business.”

“It’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” Kagami replies, downing the rest of her whisky in one go. She turns to the bartender and orders another, “Besides, where would I go? My mother will send her guards to find me if I stay in Paris.”

“Come stay with me,” Luka smiles at her over the rim of his glass, enjoying the crescendo of her chorus, “Trade in your épée for the sun and the sand.”

“I couldn’t possibly,” Kagami mutters into her whisky, her brows furrowed once again, “She’d disown me.”

“Good thing you’ve already cashed that trust fund then,” Luka swirls the rest of his Hennesey within its crystal confines, “That’s the first rule of show business, right? Get your money somewhere where no one can touch it.”

“I can’t risk it.”

“Your heart song tells me otherwise.”

Kagami’s stare is unrepentant, “I’ve always wondered how you did that.”

“We all have our superpowers,” Luka shrugs, “You’re the greatest fencer on the planet and I can hear the melody of a person’s thoughts.”

“Yours seems to be more useful than mine.”

He smirks, “Yours is sexier.”

The tension between them thickens, “When do you leave for Los Angeles?”

“I have a red eye booked for midnight on Sunday,” Luka responds, “I wanted a day to sleep off the hangover before hitting the clubs stateside.”

“Hmm.”

“You’re considering it, aren’t you?”

“Hardly,” Kagami lies blatantly, barely even bothering to pretend the possibility isn’t teasing her thoughts, “That would be very irresponsible of me.”

“It would certainly be rebellious, something you’re clearly not.”

“I am a perfect daughter. I’ve never rebelled in my life.”

“Of course,” Luka nods, “You never used to sneak out with Adrien and party the night away on my houseboat back in lycée.”

“You’re mistaking me for someone else entirely,” Kagami counters, a smirk playing on her lips, “A Tsurugi would never.”

“And you certainly never beat all the boys in your grade at keg stands and beer pong,” Luka shakes his head, “That must have been someone else too.”

“Exactly,” she nods resolutely, stretching one of her long, slender legs in his direction to nudge him in the knee.

“Except there’s no one quite like you,” Luka wraps his fingers gently around her ankle, his calluses rough against her skin, “Devoted. Composed, yet fiercely independent. I can hear every little bit of it, the spiking percussion that segues into understated meditations, the energetic, multi layered melodies that transition into sweeping musical tapestries. I’ve only ever heard a heart song as compelling as this one once before, but I lost the opportunity to be with her long ago.”

Kagami looks stricken, her façade finally crumbling as she soaks in the weight of his words, “You never told me.”

“You were dating Adrien then,” Luka explains, his fingers tracing soft patterns up her calf, “And then I moved away to Los Angeles. I never lost track of you though. I was even there when you won the North American Championships in San Diego last year. I came just to watch you kick ass.”

“I didn’t know you were there,” she blinks, her pupils blown wide.

“That’s because you left right after,” Luka’s ministrations caress the sensitive hollow at the back of her knee, “You’re always at the beck and call of your family, a fearless soul locked in a gilded cage. I know you’ve tried to let go—”

“—and it hasn’t worked out so well in the past,” she breathes, her lips parting as he runs his fingertips along the outline of her kneecap, “But I guess you already knew that if you’ve been keeping tabs on me.”

“I keep tabs on all my friends,” he smiles, his lashes casting shadows on his cheeks as he glances downwards, “I’m not just a dumb rock star, you know. I value my friendships with the people who liked me before I hit platinum.”

“And I value the men who don’t kiss my ass just because I’m rich,” she laughs through her nose, goose pimples prickling along her skin.

“Sounds like we might just get along after all.”

They finish the rest of their drinks together in comfortable silence.

~

_ Slipping Through My Fingers  _

It’s the morning of Alya and Nino’s wedding and Marinette blindly reaches for her iPhone in the hopes of getting it to stop wailing in her ear. She has to get up — she  _ knows _ this — but she could use a few extra moments to compose herself before ultimately slapping on a face of makeup and pretending like her life is sunshine and roses for the entire day.

Don’t get her wrong, she’s absolutely thrilled for Alya and Nino. They deserve all of the happiness in the entire universe and Marinette can and will do anything in her power to ensure they have the greatest wedding day of all time. She may be the human equivalent of a global disaster — especially lately — but she has been the best maid of honour she could possibly be. She’s done everything she could to make Alya’s wedding arrangements as seamless as possible; Alya didn’t even have to hire a wedding planner! From the dress to the venue to the flowers and cake, Marinette had organised it all so that it was absolutely perfect.

But now…

What would she do without it?

Opening her eyes, Marinette yanks the charging cord out of her iPhone and finally mutes the alarm, groaning into her pillowcase. The wedding had been the perfect thing to distract her from her daily struggles and now she isn’t going to be left with anything to fulfill her aching desire to help those around her. Her best friends would be gone on their honeymoon for two weeks and her old friends who had come back for the wedding would be leaving Paris again. Juleka and Rose would head back to Amsterdam, Mylène would go back to Toulouse, Luka would fly back to Los Angeles and Adrien would return to China…

Marinette swallows back the tears. She has to be strong today. 

(She could break down tomorrow.)

“Marinette?” Sabine’s voice rings from below her trapdoor. Her mother opens it slightly and peaks in, meeting her daughter’s red and swollen gaze over her bed railing, “I made breakfast. I figured you could use something good to eat before the big day.”

The heroine nods, grateful; Sabine would be just as busy preparing the wedding cake and getting ready to attend the wedding today but she would always spare time for her.

A few minutes later finds them both downstairs, sipping coffee from bowls over steaming croissants and tangy, jam swirled yoghurt. Marinette follows the whirlpool of raspberry preserves with her eyes as she contemplates quietly, her shoulders slumping with the weight of the world teetering just above her head.

“Would you like my help?”

Marinette jerks to attention, “Hm?”

“Would you like my help getting ready?” Sabine asks, her expression speaking volumes, “I know you didn’t schedule yourself in with the makeup artist or the hairstylist that you hired for Alya’s wedding party so she could stay within budget.”

Cringing, Marinette takes a gulp from her coffee, “It was more important to make sure Alya got the string quartet she wanted. Besides, no one will be looking at me.”

“Just because you don’t feel like you’re worth it…” Sabine trails off. She doesn’t know what to say to her daughter these days; Marinette had held so much confidence and brilliance when she was a young and spirited teen, but now it was like every odd was stacked against her. No matter what her daughter did, she always put others before herself until it became a detriment to her own well being. In her daughter’s eyes, Marinette felt she would never be worth more than the happiness of others, “Come on, let's finish our breakfast. I’ll help you get your hair up.”

“I can’t worry about that right now,” Marinette waves her off, “I need to get to the hotel at least an hour before everyone else gets there to set up and prepare—”

“—where you’ll be so busy, you won’t have time to put any makeup on and your hair will still be in ponytails while you’re trying to fix Alya’s veil for the thousandth time,” Sabine shakes her head and reaches across the table, taking her daughter’s hand in hers, “Do you  _ want _ to look out of place in the pictures? Everyone will have beautiful updos and false lashes except for you if you don't take some time for yourself.”

“Like I said, no one is going to be looking at me,” Marinette insists, ripping her croissant in half, “Everyone’s attention is going to be on Alya. And that’s even if I manage to get in any of the pictures.”

Sabine purses her lips, her daughter’s stubborn streak embarrassingly evident this morning, “Alya’s going to insist that you’re in the photos, Marinette. Don't be ridiculous.”

“But I’m going to have to head down to the reception area right after the ceremony to make sure the cocktail hour is being organised properly and the centrepieces are all set up just like the pictures I sent. I know I’m supposed to be leaving this all up to the employees but I can’t just let them screw up Alya’s day if something goes wrong—”

“Why don’t you want to be photographed?”

Marinette blinks, “What?”

“Why don’t you want to be in Alya’s wedding photos?” Sabine can hardly believe her ears, “This is Alya’s wedding we're talking about. You’re the maid of honour—”

“—which is why I need to be working behind the scenes—”

“—and you’re going to be front and centre with Alya because she wants to share the greatest day of her life with her best friend. That’s why she asked you to be her maid of honour, Marinette. You’re best friends. She’s going to want you in every picture because you’re family to her.”

“I…” Marinette gulps audibly, “I don’t want to ruin this for Alya. Everything has to be perfect.”

“Including you, Marinette. You have to put some effort into yourself as well.”

“I don’t have time for me.”

“Yes you do,” Sabine pushes away from the counter and stands, “Go upstairs. I have a few hairpins that will match your gown.”

“Maman—”

Sabine snaps her fingers, “Don’t argue with me about this or I’ll tell Alya the real reason why you’re not getting ready with the other girls at the spa.”

“You wouldn’t  _ dare.” _

“I will,” Sabine raises a brow and points to the trapdoor to her bedroom, “I’ll tell her that you transferred every fund that should have gone to you towards more bells and whistles for her wedding. She’ll be furious with you for treating yourself so poorly and you know it.”

Marinette’s shoulders curl in defeat, “Fine.”

“Up the stairs with you,” Sabine urges her, leaving the mess on the kitchen counter; dishes can wait, but her daughter’s decaying self confidence certainly couldn’t weigh her down even a fraction of a second longer.

~

“See? That didn’t take so long,” Sabine says with a smile, turning Marinette around on her office chair towards her mirror. She’s no professional when it comes to hair and makeup but she’s got enough experience under her belt from all of the Chinese weddings she’d attended as a kid to know how to pull a chignon together with a few of her favourite gold and jade pins. 

Marinette stares at herself, more stunned than anything. She hasn’t looked this put together since her graduation a few years ago and even then, she can’t remember the last time she felt so…

...beautiful.

“Now you’ll fit right in with the other girls,” Sabine holds a hand mirror up to her hair so Marinette can see her mother’s handiwork in the reflection. Marinette marvels at the intricate Chinese pins that adorn her updo, and reaches up to touch the beads that cascade down from their detailed motifs, “They’ll match perfectly with the colour of the dresses.”

Marinette wordlessly agrees, her eyes drawn back to her eyes and lips. Her eyeshadow is exquisitely understated and the bright red lacquer on her lips is shaped perfectly to give her a pucker she wasn’t sure she was even capable of, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Sabine smiles, thrilled to see her daughter actually look happy for once, “You’re going to do great today. I'm so proud of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this little passion project of mine isn't particularly popular, I do love reading every comment you leave. Please let me know you like it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare your tissues, my lovely readers. This is going to be a tearjerker.

_ The Winner Takes It All _

Marinette arrives at the wedding venue in the nick of time with all of the dresses in tow and sighs in relief when she sees that all of the girls already have their hair and make-up ready. She expertly avoids Alya’s pointed questions about missing her spa appointment this morning with her and the rest of her bridesmaids and simply distracts them all instead, unzipping the dress bags so everyone can see their final ensembles.

“These are beautiful!” Rose cries, holding her customised bridesmaid gown up to her shoulders. She spins around and giggles, much to Juleka’s delight, and jumps up and down as Marinette hangs Alya’s embroidered lace wedding dress up on the hotel room’s curtain rod. Marinette chatters excitedly about the illusion sweetheart neckline and the detachable skirt as Alya’s Buzzfeed bffs ooh and ahh over the details, already begging her for a commission slot for their own upcoming nuptials.

Marinette takes a deep breath and smiles as the girls begin getting dressed all around her; no matter how much crap the universe throws at her, at least she’ll always be useful to someone.

After fussing with everyone else's outfits, Alya finally manages to convince Marinette to get into her own hand-tailored gown. It’s slightly different from the rest of them, something Alya had been adamant about; she’d wanted all of the bridesmaids to match in design and colour except for the maid of honour. Marinette took it in stride of course, adding some florals and detailed stitching to mould the original design into something befitting of Alya’s wedding. While the girls wore chiffon strapless dresses with ruffle tie sleeves, Marinette zipped herself into a riff on a chiffon cheongsam.

“It’s beautiful!" Alya gasps, leaning down to take in all of the intricate details.

“Thank you,” Marinette smiles, smoothing down the bridesmaid’s gown self consciously, “But today is about you! No one’s even going to notice the rest of us because they’re all going to be looking at how amazing you look.”

“Flatterer,” Alya smirks, her flared skirt billowing as she spins around, “This wedding dress is absolutely gorgeous, girl. I expect it to be front and centre on your business Instagram page tomorrow.”

“I don’t have an Instagram page for my business yet,” Marinette chides, artfully placing the comb of Alya’s veil between her scalp and her up-do.

“I told Joséphine and Sophie about your financial situation at the spa this morning and they built you an entire social media business set-up while they were getting pedicures,” Alya explains, “They’re willing to help you for free, is what I’m saying. They usually charge megabucks for this kind of thing but they’re so impressed by your design abilities that they want to support you.”

“Alya!” Marinette admonishes, gasping as Joséphine and Sophie nod in agreement from across the hotel room, “I mean, I...thank you? But I’m—I haven’t even thought about setting a budget, let alone selling my designs!”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be getting cold feet, not you,” Alya laughs, tugging her friend by the arm, “Now, we’re supposed to be downstairs in five minutes. Shall we get going?”

~

“Marinette!”

Frozen once again at the sound of his voice, Marinette spins around and spots the boy she’d managed to avoid all afternoon. Everything is set and ready to go and the only thing keeping the wedding procession from starting is the drop dead gorgeous man standing in front of her, dressed impeccably in a gorgeous navy Agreste tuxedo, “Marinette! I need to talk to you.”

“I can’t right now,” Marinette tries to stay calm, gently nudging him out of the way so she can walk around him, “I have to get to the ceremony or it’s going to run late and I—”

“Can you just—” Adrien takes a deep breath, “—can you just give me thirty seconds of your time here? You’ve been avoiding me like the plague and I just wanted to apologize—”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Marinette keeps walking as he chases her, “I was drunk and you were drunk and we were all drunk when you...when you propositioned me! And it’s not like you would have even considered doing that if I had been sober because, let’s face it, this is  _ me _ we’re talking about—”

“—which is exactly what I want to talk to you about! I want to tell you how I f—”

“Adrien, don’t do this now,” Marinette stops in her tracks, turning to face him, “I can't hear this now.”

“Marinette, listen to me. This is about us.”

“I don't wanna talk about this or the things we've gone through,” Marinette clutches her hands to her chest, “Even though it’s hurting me, it’s history. Water under the bridge,” she huffs, turning away to look out into the garden beyond.

“Marinette—”

“When I was in your arms the other night, it felt like I belonged there. And it made so much sense, being with you, but I was just fooling myself again. I was so desperate to play by the rules that I forgot that the rules don’t apply to me.”

She watches his expression change in the reflection of the window, “What do you mean?”

“Does it matter?” she asks him through the glass, verging on hysterical, “The winner takes it all and the loser gets nothing. That’s how it works when you’re like me, it’s plain and simple. I don’t even know why I bother complaining!”

She spins around and laughs, an awful, humourless sound, “Somewhere deep inside, you must know how much I loved you when we were teens. I was...I would imagine us together for hours on end but I could never find the courage to tell you. And then when you dated Kagami for all of those years...I never confessed because I couldn’t. Rules must be obeyed.”

“Nino told me,” Adrien admits, rubbing the back of his neck, “Once I was in China. I wish...I wish I would have known.”

“It wasn’t up to you to decide,” Marinette balls her hands into fists and holds them in front of her in earnest, “And now the game is on again! Are you a lover? Are you a friend? My heart can’t decide and...like I said, I don’t want to talk about this because it makes me sad just looking at you. It makes me feel like I’ve lost everything I’ve ever wanted. And all I’ve ever wanted was to be with someone who could understand what I go through everyday and still want to hold me, but even he left me too!”

Adrien freezes, “What do you mean—”

“The only man who knew what it's like to be me left me behind. He left me for four years! He left me alone to deal with this and I let him! I should have stopped him but...then I would have been selfish. So no, no one can ever be with me, even if I always dreamt it was you. I’m doomed to be alone for the rest of my life!”

“But—”

“So let’s shake hands and leave on a good note,” she says, her voice catching in her throat as she presses her hand to her heart, “I apologise if I’ve made you feel bad seeing me like this but...Adrien, I haven’t had any self-confidence in so long, I don’t even know how I’m going to keep going, except that I have to. I’ll always have to stand up for the city and act like I’m fine. I have to be whole even if I’m breaking apart inside because I could never…I could never burden anyone with who I truly am!”

She waves her arms frenetically, tears beading in the corners of her eyes, “I have loved you for so long, Adrien! And I loved Chat Noir too, with all my heart, even if I never got the chance to tell him. And now you’re both back in my life and the game is on again! I can’t take this anymore!”

She takes off down the hallway, her tears streaking down her cheeks. He tries to follow her but she’s too fast, even in her heels, and by the time she stops to catch her breath, he’s standing in the garden courtyard empty handed while she watches him from the balcony above. He sees her there and he calls her name but she can’t hear him, deafened by her heartbeat thundering in her ears.

“I’ll never win your heart, Adrien,” she whispers, turning away from him towards the wedding venue just beyond the doors, “And someone like me...always has to take the fall.”   


~

_ I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do _

“Marinette! There you are! I was beginning to worry—oh god, are you okay? Why is there mascara on your cheeks? Are you crying?!”

Juleka is running over to Marinette in a flash, pulling a makeup brush out of god knows where, “I’m fine, really. I just have some...allergies to the garden, that’s all.”

“Bullshit,” Alya crosses her arms over her chest, having been the one to spot Marinette sneaking into the venue in a state of disarray, “What did Adrien say to you?”

“It’s not…” Marinette bites her lips as Juleka smooths a makeup brush over her skin, carefully erasing any sign of her teardrops, “He tried to apologize and I...I kind of unloaded on him.”

Alya sighs, “Girl, I love you, but can you please keep it together for the next few minutes, at least? I was having a panic over here when you didn’t show up.”

“I’m so sorry,” Marinette steels herself and allows Juleka to continue fixing her face, closing her eyes to centre herself. She has to focus on Alya right now, not her pesky feelings. She could do that for her best friend; she owed her that much, “I promise, I’m fine now. I think I just needed to get that off my chest.”

“Good,” Alya exhales before cupping her palms to her mouth, “Marinette’s here! We’re all good to get started.”

“Oh, thank god,” Joséphine and Sophie sigh in relief as they peek around the corner, “I’ll let the officiant know we can get started.”

Rose helps Juleka collect her things and sets them to the side, straightening her gown as Juleka follows her out towards the hallway. Marinette follows suit beside Alya and fiddles with her veil several times before fluffing it upwards just so. It drapes down to her waist perfectly and Marinette deftly arranges the train of her dress before coming up to stand in front of her, “You’re all ready.”

“Thanks, girl,” Alya smiles, giving her best friend one last big hug before the ceremony begins.

As the music starts to fill the picturesque venue, Ella and Etta make their way down the aisle first alongside Nino’s younger brother Noël and his closest cousin Alexandre. As the two couples split to their respective sides, Juleka and Rose follow suit, tossing rose petals in their wake. Rose had been adamant that there be a flower girl in the wedding despite not having any children in the party and took on the role with feverish delight.

Nora walks next, side by side with one of Nino’s best friends in the music business, and then Joséphine and Sophie join the fray with Nino’s collaborator and producer respectively. Marinette holds her breath, both entranced by the scene in front of her and horrified at what’s about to come.

Marinette takes her place at the beginning of the aisle, still as a statue. Adrien walks up beside her and holds out his elbow for her to take, which she does with all the finesse of a rusted robot before they start their slow, mechanical walk down the aisle.

“You look beautiful, by the way,” he whispers, his voice barely audible as the music begins to swell.

Marinette squeaks a brief thank you, her back ramrod straight.

“And I know this isn’t the right time but…” his voice trails off, his model smile still plastered to his face as he speaks to her like a ventriloquist, “There’s only two people who know Chat Noir is back in town and I have a feeling they're both in this room."

~

“Welcome to Alya and Nino, and to all your friends who have gathered here together this afternoon...” the officiant begins as everyone sits, their eyes glued to the gorgeous couple at the centre of it all. Marinette desperately tries to focus except Adrien is staring intently at her from the other side of the room, his lips mouthing something she can’t quite ascertain.

And then it clicks.

_ I’m sorry for leaving you, M’Lady. _

“We are all here in this glorious celebration of Nino and Alya's unconditional love for one another…”

_ What?! _ Marinette mouths back, blinking repeatedly. She must be dreaming and this is all just a very elaborate hallucination based on her imagination of what’s going to happen at Alya’s wedding tomorrow and she’ll wake up in just a minute—

_ I’m Chat Noir! And you’re Ladybug! _

There’s no way this can be happening. There’s literally, absolutely, positively  _ no way _ —

“...and today we remember that a wedding between two people is a heartfelt and meaningful ceremony that represents…”

_ No you’re not! _

Adrien’s eyes widen with worry, his expression pale,  _ I am! And I’m sorry that I— _

“Alright, enough is enough,” Alya announces, spinning around to glare at her maid of honour and her future husband's best man, “If you have something you need to say to each other, you need to spit it out right now!”

The crowd gasps, then begins to murmur as Adrien leaps from his place beside the altar to run over to Marinette, “I have spent one thousand, four hundred and twenty three days regretting the choice I made to leave Paris because it meant leaving you. I never should have—”

Marinette finally finds her voice, “Am I getting this right? You’re apologizing in the middle of Alya and Nino’s wedding to tell me, to say to me—” Marinette flings her arms into the air, “I can’t believe you’re doing this right now!”

“If you had just let me talk to you—”

“Don't get all self-righteous with me,” Marinette counters back, embarrassed beyond all belief, “Because you have no one but yourself to blame.”

“I know, which is why I’m trying to apologize now that I have the whole picture—”

“The whole picture?! If you hadn’t just dumped me and gone off to some foreign land, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!”

Their audience gasps. The photographer drops his camera.

“Hey, hey, wait a minute! I  _ had _ to leave Paris. When my father found out I had applied to universities behind his back, he personally called up every single one of them and told them that I was prohibited from ever getting a post secondary degree while I was living under his roof. My job — my  _ only _ job — was to model for Gabriel, so I had no choice! The only way to secretly get an education was to move to the Haus of Gabriel in Shanghai under the guise that I wanted to use my modelling as a way to further the brand overseas!”

“So you…” Marinette flounders, her indignance and guilt warring against each other, “You left because of that?”

“I didn’t want to leave, Marinette,” he pleads with her, his flushed cheeks and watering eyes revealing just how sorry he is, “But I had to. He had taken everything from me. I wasn’t even allowed to leave the house once I graduated, except to say goodbye to all of you.”

“But…”

“And every Christmas I came back to try and find you. Everyday, I’d go out looking for you. I’d call you but you’d never answer. I left notes. I did everything because I was crazy enough to think that you would be waiting for me.”

“I—”

“And every January, I’d go back to China feeling like an idiot. I’d lost the love of my life, the woman I’d loved for  _ years _ and all because I couldn’t handle being used as a pawn in my father’s business. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to come back and find you, until I did this week and—”   


“Sorry, can I just...can I just butt in?”

Marinette and Adrien turn away from each other to gawk at Alya.

“If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about — and judging by your faces, you are — I just want you to know that while I’m furious with the the two of you for interrupting my wedding day, I really, really,  _ really _ want the two of you to work this out because I wouldn’t be anywhere without you guys and I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this under our noses this whole time!”

The lightbulb ignites above Nino’s head after Alya briefly whispers something in his ear, “Dudes!  _ Dudes! _ Oh my god!”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, babe,” Alya grins, tugging insistently on her fiancé’s shoulder as he continues to freak out, “Look, you have our blessings, but can we please get on with this? I really want to get married!”

Red faced and humiliated beyond her wildest dreams, Marinette gathers herself. Adrien scampers over to the other side of the aisle and tries desperately to keep it together except he can’t stop looking at her, his fingers itching to reach out and touch. How the hell is this happening? And how is he going to ever earn her forgiveness now that they both know who they truly are?

_ “I have loved you for so long, Adrien! And I loved Chat Noir too, with all my heart, even if I never got the chance to tell him.” _

Her words echo over and over again in his ears like an enchantment, tugging him further and further under her spell. She loves him! Both sides of him! She’s loved him all of this time! There’s still a chance!

“Alya, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Today, I vow to love you and hold you in my arms as long as we both shall live.”

“Nino, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Today, I vow to love you and support you as long as we both shall live.”

Marinette begins to tear up again except this time, she’s not sure if it’s because of the wedding or  _ him _ .

“Nino, please place this ring on Alya’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife for now, forever and always.”

Sliding her wedding band up her middle finger, Nino gives the love of his life an everlasting smile, “With this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife for now, forever and always.”

“Alya, please place this ring on Nino’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband for now, forever and always.”

Vibrating with barely contained glee, Alya returns the favour, “With this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband for now, forever and always.”

The officiant, relieved that there were no other spontaneous distractions, raises his head in exultation, “Now that you have dedicated yourselves to each other with your vows and the giving and receiving of rings in front of all who have assembled here, it is with great pleasure that I may now pronounce you husband and wife!”

The party roars, cheering and crying from their pews as Nino hoists his wife into the air and spins her around, “You may now seal your vows with a kiss!”

The rest of the ceremony passes in a blur of movement. The wedding party follows Alya and Nino as they parade back down the aisle, dancing and skipping and partying down the stairs and into the gorgeous garden courtyard where the photographer has already set up his equipment. Marinette stumbles into autopilot as she directs the wait staff to deliver hors d'oeuvres and specialty cocktails she had created specifically based on the couple. The Alya Punch was a blood orange margarita while the Nino Spritz was a twist on a gin and tonic, with a little orange zing.

She’s almost gotten herself completely distracted by the revelry when a strong pair of arms snag her by the waist and lead her into a shaded alcove on the edge of the courtyard.

“Did you mean what you said before?” Adrien asks, his heart racing, “Have you really been in love with Chat Noir and I all this time?”

Marinette hesitates, shaken and stunned, “I never stopped. And I hate myself for it.”

“What?” Adrien reels back as if he’s been slapped, “Why?”

“Because for four long years, I fought with an imaginary ghost by my side. I could never forget you, even if I wanted to. And I did. I tried everyday to get over you. I worked eighteen hour days and fought akumas and gave up on my dreams so that I could do what needed to be done.”

“I’m so sorry,” Adrien rubs his hands over his cheeks and eyes, “I never should have left you without an explanation.”

“You couldn’t tell me without exposing your identity,” Marinette concedes, sagging against the stone alcove they were hiding in, “I just...I thought you were going to be gone for a semester, not an entire university degree.”

“I wanted to do something more with myself…” he trails off, glancing down at his shoes, “And I knew that if I didn’t take the opportunity when it presented itself, I would have lost it forever. My father still has no idea I have a degree in Science and Engineering. I was even accepted for my Masters in Architectural Design this past May.”

Something poisonous shatters in her heart, “So you’ll be going back to Shanghai after this?”

Somehow, Adrien begins to appear even smaller than he already feels, “Sunday night. Just long enough to be ghosted by my father for dinner.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The air cools uncomfortably between them, “Well, then I guess there isn’t really anything else to say.”

“What?”

Marinette finally gains the courage to look up at him, “You’re going back to Shanghai and I’m staying here to hopefully finish off what we started here together. I can never leave or travel or live my life so long as Le Papillon continues to terrorize Paris. And that’s all there is to it.”

“I…”

“The only ‘I’ in this team is me, Chat Noir,” Marinette says, straightening out the wrinkles in her dress with all of the grim determination of a woman who’s falling apart on the inside, “Please, don’t make this harder than it is.”

He snags her wrist as she goes to leave, “Wait, Marinette! There has to be something I can do—”

“There’s nothing you can do,” she levels with him, her words scraping like shards of glass on her tongue, “Goodbye Adrien. I wish you all the luck in the world on your Master’s degree and I hope you find your freedom and a great job out there. You’ve always been a good person and you deserve to have a happy life.”

She tugs her arm free and steps back into the sunlight to take her place beside the rest of the wedding party.

She doesn’t look back.

~

_ When All Is Said And Done _

The wedding reception goes off without a hitch.

Everything is glorious. The food is divine and everyone is taking part in the generous libations being poured. The music is blasting through the speakers and everyone is dancing to the beat with their partners and their friends in a celebration of love. Marinette supervises from the sidelines and makes sure all of the gifts are accounted for, still too embarrassed to socialise much after completely humiliating herself in front of everyone during the ceremony.

As the clock strikes midnight, Nino raises his glass in the air and calls for everyone’s attention, “Here's to us and to everyone here who came out to celebrate! Let’s have one more toast!”

The party cheers and raises their glasses, downing them all in one go.

And with that, the party is over. Guests trickle out of the venue slowly, calling Ubers to get them home. Marinette leaves the wedding favours to Rose and Juleka and collects the decorations as fast as she’s able to. Her feet are aching and she kicks off her shoes, skirting around each and every table to grab centrepieces and the like. She’s nearly finished when she spots the source of her agony by the door, helping Sophie cart off the wedding gifts to the room they’d rented upstairs.

Her chest aches. It really does feel like goodbye now. After tonight, she would never see him again. She’d delete his number and stop following him on Instagram and TikTok. She would stop torturing herself with imaginary conversations as she leaps through the night searching for akumas and fighting bad guys. Weddings were a symbol of love and a symbol of new beginnings and this was about as close as she’d ever be able to get at having a fresh start.

With her head held high, she hops in her parent’s bakery van and listens to the gentle hum of the engine as she sits silently in the passenger side, her father’s fingertips on the steering wheel a good enough lullaby as anything. Her mom helps her out of her dress and she retreats for the night, feeling the heaviness of the day slip from her shoulders. 

She would have time to mourn tomorrow. 

~

And she does mourn for a few days. She cries into her pillow as Sunday turns to Monday. She watches Adrien’s Instagram story about getting back on the plane before unfollowing him and then cries some more, her eyes red and itchy from the overwhelming deluge of emotions four years in the making purging from her soul. 

She laughs through her tears as Alya and Nino tag her in TikToks of their vacation adventures in Spain, travelling from Barcelona to Valencia to Ibiza. Watching Nino cringe as he chews on the black pudding tapas is certainly a highlight, especially when Sophie gifs it and turns it into a meme that blows up once she uses it in a Buzzfeed article. 

When Marinette eventually gets to Kagami’s feed, her eyes nearly bulge out of her skull. Somehow, Luka (of all people!) had convinced her to travel to Los Angeles for a mini vacation and he was trying to teach her how to surf. She's obviously a natural at it and by the time Marinette checks all of their Instagram stories again, Kagami is weaving through the waves like a pro.

For everyone else, things are looking up.

And eventually, things would start to look up for her too.

By Tuesday, Marinette gets out of bed and stays out, turning on her sewing machine for the first time since before the wedding. Glancing at her email that had somehow been filled with commission requests over the weekend, Marinette feels a little like she’s standing at a crossroad and this time, she has no desire to run.

With her scissors in hand, she turns towards her fabric collection and feels a genuine smile pull at her lips as she gets to work on the first of three bridesmaids dresses for Joséphine. They would be powder pink and cocktail length, the perfect look for a lighthearted springtime celebration beneath the cherry blossoms.

She could go job hunting later. There’s no hurry anymore now that all is said and done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters left! And the next one will remind you to "Take A Chance On Me"!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love absolutely _everything_ about this part of the story. And this is my favourite part of the movie too!

_ Take A Chance On Me _

**_Six months later..._ **

Never in her wildest dreams did Marinette expect to be sitting where she is now, dressed to the nines in one of her own highly sought after designs. Having just released her very first collection,  _ M by MarinetteDesigns _ , at the beginning of December, all of her custom made  _ prêt-à-porter _ fashions were flying off the racks. She’d even had to hire another seamstress just to get through the backlog of formal wear commissions that she’d received ever since Alya’s BuzzFeed friends set up her social media accounts and started repping her brand all over their articles and personal posts.

But more on that later.

At the moment, Marinette is sitting at a huge, zigzag communal table under the glassed-in rooftop patio on top of a boutique hotel in  _ Le Marais _ , clapping her hands and cheering as the two people she never thought she’d see together emerge from behind closed doors hand in hand. Jagged Stone performs an epic guitar solo from the platform as Luka picks up his new bride and spins her around, grinning like a maniac. 

The wedding itself is a completely bombastic affair with celebrities and the like sneaking here and there to avoid the paparazzi. Marinette feels like a kid in a candy store as Luka’s guests file in left and right, most of them artists and bands she loves to listen to. And his bride, of course, doesn’t have much of her family along for the wedding. The media backlash from her mother’s empire had been outlandish, especially in Japan, but she’d ended up fitting right in with most of Luka’s ragtag group of friends in Los Angeles. With the help of her new husband and their support circle, she’d risen above the controversy and won the Olympic gold medal in fencing, bringing honour to herself for the first time in her life.

Sporting a gorgeous red rose tattoo on her upper arm, Kagami Tsuguri Couffaine turns around and gives everyone that trademark smirk of hers, welcoming them to their reception. Luka can’t keep his hands off of her, his eyes practically bulging out of his skull when she plunks her leg up onto the chair she’s supposed to be sitting on and demands he take her garter off with his teeth. The partygoers roar as Luka does just that, emerging victorious with a red and navy strap of fabric hanging from his canines. 

Satisfied with his performance, Kagami calls all of the single and unmarried ladies attending her wedding to the platform and waves her rose and orchid bouquet over her head for the traditional toss. Hoping to avoid the pitying glances, Marinette pretends to be completely consumed by her emails and ducks her head in the hopes that no one will notice her. She would have been successful too, had it not been for the exchange of raised eyebrows and playful glances between the bride, the groom and a few other savant attendees. 

“One, two, three!” Kagami cries, launching her bouquet into the air. Like a missile locked on a target, it somersaults right over everyone’s heads and thwacks an unassuming Marinette straight in the face, knocking her right off her chair.

“Oh my god, Marinette!” Alya squeals, laughing as her best friend spits petals from her lips. Everyone is cheering as Marinette slowly stands up and waves the bouquet above her head, blushing with embarrassment.

“I don’t even have a boyfriend,” she shakes her head, still smiling despite not having a plus one by her side. She’s long accepted the fact that she’s going to be on her own for good and surprisingly, she feels better for it. Acceptance is the first step, after all, and Marinette has been going to so many weddings lately as an honoured guest for designing the wedding and bridesmaids dresses that the blank space at her side hardly bothers her any longer. She’s even started working on tuxedos!

Way, way down the table, Marinette tries to ignore the ghost from her past crowding the open bar with Nino and the rest of the boys. She’d said hello politely but otherwise avoided him, if only to keep a tamper on her feelings; even though her love has long withered down to smothered embers, Marinette wants to be careful to avoid the winds of change that would flare those feelings in her soul.

The food at Luka and Kagami’s wedding is fantastic and the music is even more so. After the first course, Luka invites everyone up to form a mosh pit as Jagged plays a brand new track off his upcoming album and Marinette is absolutely thrilled to bop around, screaming at the top of her lungs with her hands in the air. She’s as free as a bird and the gorgeous, rock star inspired dress she has on leaves little to the imagination as she sways and shakes to the music. Alya catches it all on TikTok, much to Marinette’s chagrin, and captions it:  _ ‘What a catch! 🎣 How is my girl still single?!’ _

After, everyone takes a breather and sits back down at the table, its decorated surface filled to the brim with food served family style on colourful, mismatched platters. Marinette loves the boho aesthetic of the different multi-hued plates and napkins, the discordant textures and silverware already inspiring another collection for her fashion line. She digs into the huge heaping of pasta that Alya had plopped onto her plate and laughs along with her girlfriends as they eat the night away under the Parisian lights.

As the main course is being cleared from their tables, the wedding band begins to play and couples slowly but surely leave their tables for a tour of the dance floor. Alya jokingly offers a ‘samba-à-trois’ with her and Nino but Marinette laughingly declines, prefering to watch and take photos of her friends while they’re enjoying themselves. She’s got a knack for capturing the perfect shot and Marinette is just about to turn back towards her table to edit them when someone calls her name.

“Marinette!”

No matter how many months and years pass between them, he’ll always stop her in her tracks.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Adrien compliments her breathlessly, a sheen of sweat on his brow. He’s been dancing with the boys, hauling them up in the air on his shoulders as the party throbs around them, “I mean—you look beautiful always! It’s just—uh, tonight you look...especially beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Marinette responds, desperately trying to keep her voice even. She can’t help but transpose the black mask over his features as he runs his fingers through his messy hair, his cheeks flushed from exertion, “You look...handsome yourself.”

“Th-thank you!” he stutters, looking strangely unkempt for someone who always seems to have it together, “I just—um. Do you want to dance with me?”

He offers her his hand and she stares at it, the technicolour lights casting shadows on his upturned palm, “I...thank you for...um, offering but—”

_ “Please,” _ he beseeches her, his eyes blown wide, “I’ve missed you.”

Marinette gulps, her throat tightening against the emotions rekindling in her chest, “I’m…”

“Just one,” he says, taking a small, tentative step towards her, “And if you...if you don’t want to see me again after, I can do that.”

Her heart clenches. Tikki punches her thigh through her skirt.

“Just one,” she says eventually, placing her hand gently overtop of his. He grasps her like their lives depend on it and Marinette is suddenly thrust back to the days where their entwined fingers meant the difference between defeat and victory. He slumps with relief and pulls her towards his chest, resting his other hand on the small of her back.

And they dance.

Her heartbeat skips with every step as they sway to the music, lost in their own private orbit of things left unsaid. Adrien can’t keep his eyes away and she can hardly catch his gaze without burning up, finding it far easier to stare at the knot of his loosened tie. Somehow, they drift closer and closer until his lips are a hair’s breadth away from the crown of her head and Marinette can feel the warmth of his body coming off of him in waves, setting her skin on fire.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he whispers, his words barely there, “When I left after the wedding...I knew it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made and I’d do anything to take it back.”

Marinette trips a little, stumbling into his chest, “Adrien—”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you everything but Alya told me you blocked me and I...I wanted to respect that. So I’ve been waiting six months to tell you what I should have told you all those years ago,” Adrien’s voice wavers, “I’ve loved you since the day we first fought together. The problem was, at eighteen, I thought I loved the idea of freedom more.”

“I was wrong, though. I was so, so wrong and I’ve spent the last four years of my life regretting every second. I’ve transferred to TU Delft to finish off my graduate degree so I can be closer to home. I want to come back on the weekends to fight by your side again and repair our relationship, but only if you want to. I just...I know I’ve been an awful partner and an even more awful friend so I totally understand if you never want to see me again but...I thought I would just try.”

Marinette swallows, fighting the tears that prickle at the corners of her eyes, “I’m sorry, Adrien. But I...thank you for the apology.”

He makes no move to let go and neither does she, “It’s...it’s okay. You’ve been doing so well on your own. I just want to be closer though, in case something happens. The Netherlands is only a few hours away by bus.”

The music slowly wanes and Marinette steps back, averting her gaze, “I guess it’s time for dessert.”

Adrien swallows, loosening his tie further, “Right. I...um, I’ll talk to you later?”

“Sure,” she says, finally glancing back up at him. He looks wrecked, for lack of a better word, “Maybe you can tell me how your studies are going?”

“Oh!” Adrien’s expression immediately brightens, his smile near blinding, “Yes! I’ll tell you anything! Everything! After dessert! We can talk!”

Marinette can’t help but smile a little, his fumbling antics so unlike the Adrien she knows. He’s unmasked in front of her, the Chat Noir she has always known and loved, “Nino’s waving at you.”

She points over his shoulder and Adrien turns, catching a glimpse of Nino, Luka and about ten other guys all hooting and giving him questioning thumbs up. He smiles and gives them an enthusiastic nod in return before turning back to Marinette, “I’ll find you after dessert, okay?”

“Okay,” she agrees, watching him scamper off towards his friends. Alya is on her not a second later, her arm draped around her shoulders as they walk back to their seats.

“Well? How did it go?”

Marinette shrugs, “We danced and I asked him about his studies.”

Alya skids to a stop in her tracks, “That’s  _ it?” _

“Well, he said he was sorry too,” she says, walking out from under Alya’s arm as she continues walking, “And then the song ended and we’re going to talk about his classes after.”

“I swear to god, that  _ idiot _ !” Alya stomps her foot and storms away towards her husband and the rest of the boys. 

~

The cake is cut, the lights are low and the party is about to truly kick into high gear. The wedding band is replaced by one of Los Angeles' best DJs and Marinette stays out of the fray for the time being, taking a break from the action. She’s responding to commision requests when the song that had just been playing slowly dwindles and the crowd starts to scream.

“Speech!” a familiar voice cries and Marinette’s head yanks towards its source so quickly it cracks, “I'm gonna make a speech, everybody!”

Standing on the wedding platform with his tie nowhere to be found, Adrien raises his glass of champagne in one hand and holds the microphone to his lips in the other, “First of all, I just want to make a big shout out to the bride and groom for hosting an amazing party!  _ Santé!” _

The crowd cheers and drinks with him, buzzing seemingly with anticipation. An electric current tingles down the length of her neck as something tells her that everyone clearly knows something she doesn’t.

“And secondly, I want to thank my friends for helping me try and win back the love of my life. Hey, Marinette! I’m still free! Take a chance on me!”

Hoisted from the platform to the dinner tables, Adrien begins to strut as if on a catwalk, "To the most beautiful, talented woman in the world! I'm gonna do my very best to get you back, if you let me try. I wanna be the first in line to your heart."

The entire party cheers him on. Jagged Stone plays the opening chords to the wedding march on his electric guitar.

"I know I kind of screwed up,” he averts his eyes for a moment, his cheeks burning as her jaw clunks to the floor, “But if you change your mind and need me, just let me know. I’m going to be around more often and...well, put me to the test. I won’t disappoint you ever again. I’m all yours.”

He pauses in front of her, microphone still in hand, “We could go dancing or go for a walk or anything, really. Just as long as we do it together. You’ve got to know how much I want to win you back and...and when I close my eyes at night and dream, I’m always dreaming about you! You have to know that I...I can’t let go of you. Of us. Of what I left behind.”

“Please Marinette,” he reaches out to her just like he had earlier, his palm raised and at the ready. Marinette feels like dying and flying all at once.

Her heart pounding, Marinette takes a shaky breath and raises her hand only to hesitate, her fingers curling with indecision. Her mind is racing and fuzzy and between the wolf whistles and the intensity of Adrien’s gaze, Marinette finds herself feeling something in her chest she hasn’t felt in four long years.

“What do you say, M’Lady?” Adrien smiles with a hopeful shrug, “Will you take a chance on me?”

“I…” she trails off and somehow, her arm is moving on its own accord. Should she listen to her mind and turn him down? Or should she listen to her heart and find love once more in the arms of the man she’s loved for years and years and years.

Well, there’s only one choice here, isn’t there?

“Yes,” she whispers, a sweet benediction, “Yes!”

Clasping his hand, Adrien hauls her up with supernatural strength onto the table and tosses the microphone into the crowd. There’s a horrible feedback noise as Nino catches it against his tuxedo but nothing matters anymore except the smile on his face and the joy in her eyes as he wraps his arms around her waist and presses her flush to his body, “Why did I ever let you go?”

“Because you were an idiot,” Marinette responds and Adrien throws his head back and laughs.  _ Here I go again _ , she thinks as she soaks in his contagious joy as the crowd screams around them. How could she resist him, especially after a confession like that?

“Can I kiss you?”

Marinette inhales sharply, “How could I resist?”

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course it is, you silly cat.”

Adrien bends down and presses his lips against hers just as the fireworks ignite in the background, bathing the glassed-in rooftop deck in hues of vibrant reds and golds. Marinette gasps as he runs his tongue along her bottom lip and she pulls him ever nearer, basking in his warmth as she grabs handfuls of his hair. She devours him longingly as he explores her body with his roaming fingertips and Marinette feels the dam of her desire breaking, overflowing with desperate, relentless love.

“I’m never going to let you go ever again," Adrien murmurs against her lips before diving back in and kissing her again, grabbing her by the hip. She feels delirious and suddenly they’re both smiling, giggling like school children because finally,  _ finally _ ! They could be together! No matter what, four years or twenty, no span of time can truly keep apart true love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
> 
> And who said I couldn't write fluff!
> 
> Two songs left!
> 
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The final part!

_I Have A Dream_ **  
**

April mornings never cease to steal Marinette’s breath away. The cherry blossoms, the tulips and the lilacs all in full bloom…Marinette smiles into the breeze and inhales, savouring the sweet scent of the season in the air. It’s beautiful out here and Marinette can’t wait to take her daily morning break from designing to draw inspiration from the scenic parks of the Paris she loves.

Whenever she’s tired or lonely or just stressed out from work, she likes to go outside and stretch her legs. Now that spring has finally sprung, she rejoices in the warmth of the sun on her skin as it drives away the wet cold of the winter rains. It had been an especially chilly season and Marinette feels glad that she had at least a little reprieve from the weather on the weekends as the sleet came pelting down against the windows. Her heart ~~and personal space heater~~ returns to the Netherlands during the weekdays for school. He braves the traffic and takes the bus back to Paris every Friday evening and Marinette does her very best to meet him at the station to greet him with a pastry in tow.

She hums tunelessly as she shoves her hands into her pockets and walks along a pebbled path through the blossoming magnolias. She tries not to worry too much about what the future between her and Adrien might bring but Marinette has never been known for her rationality. He’s been nothing but accommodating and kind now that they’ve patched things up between them…but there’s still an underlying tension. Maybe, she thinks, it has to do with the fact that he still lives out of the country. They spend as much time as they can together on the weekends but between the akuma battles that have been ramping up lately and her mounting pile of commissions, Marinette wishes they could just stay together for good.

Of course, that would mean asking Adrien to move in with her.

Shortly after Luka’s and Kagami’s wedding, Marinette had to move out of her parent’s home just to get more space for her mounting fashion business. Now, she rents a one bedroom flat close by that she uses as a home, an office and a design studio and, although her two employees help keep her company, the loneliness closes in during the evenings when she gazes out of her belle-époque windows and watches couples meander down the boulevard hand in hand, sipping steaming beverages and window shopping together.

Sometimes, Marinette indulges in a fantasy to help her through reality. While she’s cutting and sewing fabrics and gossiping with her seamstresses, her mind is completely focused but during the other times, she imagines what Adrien and her life would be like together. Would he want to move in with her? Would he come to hate the fact that the space meant for a living room has been turned into a fashion studio? Would he want to live somewhere else because it’s too crowded here?

Marinette sighs. He would be taking on an architecture apprenticeship here in Paris once he finishes his fast-tracked theoretical studies, much to his father’s chagrin, and Marinette truly wonders if he really would want to live his life together with her. Would Gabriel, who had found out about his son’s studies through the tabloids and nearly blew his fuse, make him move back in with him? She can’t imagine Adrien agreeing to that, but she can’t help but wonder if moving into a crammed, run-down apartment with her would be any better.

There’s someone standing in the middle of the path and Marinette instinctively moves to the side to get around them. Everyone is taking pictures of the magnolias now that they’re in bloom and Marinette doesn’t want to photobomb someone’s Instagram story—

“Marinette!”

She’d know that voice anywhere.

“Adrien?!” Marinette gasps and spins around, holding her hands to her chest. Of course it’s him, all tousled hair and bright green eyes. He’s dressed in one of her creations, a chartreuse oversized sweater, and holds a bouquet of pink tulips in his hands, “What are you doing here? It’s a Wednesday!”

“It is,” Adrien’s ecstatic grin threatens to split his face in two, “I’m finished! My profs accepted my thesis on the first try!”

Marinette feels like she’s been struck by lightning, “You mean—”

“I don’t have to leave anymore,” Adrien runs up to her and stops just short, holding out his bouquet, “I can stay in Paris forever! I mean, if you…um, if that’s what you want.”

“Of course that’s what I want,” Marinette snatches the tulips from his hands and throws her arms around his neck.

Adrien melts into her embrace and kisses her firmly on the lips, relieved and elated all at once, “Does that mean I can move in with you too? Because I already left all my luggage at your place. The blonde seamstress let me in.”

“You…” Marinette trails off, her eyes blown wide, “You want to move in with me?”

“I love your place, even if it is a little crowded,” Adrien laughs and the sound of it makes her believe in angels, “As long as you don’t mind me buying us a nicer bed, I want to live with you and make coffee for you for as long as you’ll have me. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’m the best roommate ever.”

“Just a roommate?” Marinette quirks an eyebrow, “Or something more?”

“I’ll be your husband too, if you want,” Adrien beams, kissing the astonished look off her face, “In fact, that reminds me. I have something to ask you.”

Marinette leaps a foot into the air and screeches loud enough to scare every pigeon in Paris as Adrien reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small velvet box, “How about it, Marinette? You’re going to need a model to boss around while you become Paris’ greatest fashion designer of all time and I want to spend every moment of my life with you. I want to be with you. I want to fight beside you and sleep next to you and kick Le Papillon’s ass with you. So what do you say?”

Speechless, Marinette’s eyes well up with happy tears, “I…”

“Come on, M’Lady,” Adrien gushes, his own eyes shining with emotion, “It’s only the rest of your life!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, Marinette jumps up and down and practically drags her future husband up to his feet by his collar, kissing him absolutely senseless. She jumps into his arms, wraps her legs around his body and giggles as his laughter rumbles through his chest.

“I’ve always dreamt of this moment,” Marinette gasps for breath, nuzzling his nose, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Marinette,” Adrien whispers, kissing her once more for good luck.

~

_Waterloo_

Two years ago, Marinette never would have thought her life would look like this. A successful designer? Never. A victorious heroine who had finally defeated Le Papillon after his ten year reign of terror? Ridiculous. And a wife?

Preposterous!

But here she is, about to walk down the aisle in one of her own designs surrounded by her best friends and family. In the end, love had won! She had tried to hold back her heart but his adoration for her was so much stronger than the walls she had built around herself. When Adrien had proposed and they had moved in together, Marinette realised it was time to give up the fight once and for all. Like Napoleon, she had lost the war and surrendered…

…but really, how could she refuse? 

“Are you ready?” Alya fluffs her veil behind her and Marinette squares her shoulders, her cheeks aching from smiling so widely.

“I am!” Marinette nods, “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

“I can’t believe my childhood OTP is finally going to be canon,” Alya claps her hands together and swoons, “Do you think I could bribe Bunnix into letting me tell my fifteen year old self that I’ll be in future-Ladybug’s wedding party?”

Marinette throws her head back and laughs as the music begins to play from within the venue, “I think she’d hit you with her umbrella!”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Alya snickers, taking her spot in front of Marinette. Tom appears at her side and with that, the procession begins.

“Ready, _ma choue?”_

“As I’ll ever be.”

The ceremony begins and Marinette desperately tries to commit it all to memory. The pews are decorated with pink and white flowers and the dresses and ties she’d sewn herself all match perfectly with the decor. The smiling faces of all of their guests and friends light up the room and Marinette can’t help but skip down the aisle; it’s the dream she thought she’d never have and she’s absolutely glowing with excitement when she spots his smiling face at the front of the cathedral, his eyes welling up with tears.

I love you, he mouths as she walks down the aisle. Marinette can’t help but mouth it back, holding back her own tears as his spill freely down his cheeks. Nino dabs at Adrien’s face with his pocket-square — much to their friends and family’s amusement — and even the officiant laughs as Marinette finally makes it to the front of the venue and kisses him smack on the mouth.

“Stop crying!” she exclaims as everyone erupts in both giggles and sniffles, “You’re going to make me cry!”

“You’re just…” Adrien snatches the tissue pack Alya lobs at him in midair and blows his nose, “…so beautiful! I love you!”

“I love you too!”

It’s certainly not the most traditional beginning to a wedding but it’s authentically them, all unrestrained emotions and undeniable devotion. Their vows go much the same, stuttered and heartfelt beyond belief. Between the tears shed and Adrien’s questioningly clever puns, the wedding ceremony eventually draws to a close with only the rings yet to be exchanged.

“With this ring, I will always be yours,” Adrien gushes, slipping a rose gold wedding band past her knuckle, “I will always be by your side and I will never leave you. My heart belongs to you, always.”

“And with this ring, I promise to love you forevermore,” Marinette responds, her body shaking and she takes his hand in hers and slides his ring onto his wedding finger, “I know that my fate is to be with you. We’re partners first, and soulmates always.”

Marinette nearly squeals with excitement as the officiant speaks his final lines, “It is now my honour and my privilege to pronounce you husband and wife!”

“I love y— _mmpf!”_ Marinette yanks him down by the tie before he has a chance to finish and erases the space between them, sealing their vows with a kiss so profound it steals their breaths away. There have only been so many kisses as loving as this in all of Earth’s history and the wielders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses over the years are responsible for more than half of them. Stars are born. Galaxies are made. And here and now in their wedding venue, Marinette and Adrien Dupain-Cheng set off a chain of events that will change the universe forever. 

They say love conquers all and let us, too, yield to love. No matter what separates us, divides us or drives us away, your light and heart’s longing will always find a way. 

_fin._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for being a part of this story with me! What started off as a silly, wine-fueled AU turned into a full-fledged story and no one should be less surprised by this than me...but here we are! I hope you liked it and leave a comment if you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed! And follow me on tumblr [ao3bronte] to get regular updates on my AUs!


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